Russian lead-acid battery maker AKOM has been selected to take part in a government-backed programme to boost one of the country’s industrial regions.
AKOM, which this year marks its 15th anniversary since launching battery production in the southwestern Samara region, said the move allows it to take advantage of tax breaks and other incentives to step up investment and production.
And the company said it is already on course to produce a total of “at least three million” batteries this year, following the installation of an automated assembly line at its manufacturing base in the city of Zhigulevsk.
The new assembly line is among investments made following a loan of RUB500 million ($8.7m) from Russia’s Industrial Development Fund. AKOM said the line is expected to see production eventually ramped up to around 3.5m batteries each year— along with “new levels of production quality”.
AKOM was one of the “16 most promising companies” in the Samara region chosen by Russia’s economic and labour ministries and the federal labour and employment service to benefit from the industrial support programme. Samara was targeted because of its “significant potential for increasing labour productivity” in a region that also features car manufacturing and auto components production, AKOM said.
Last year, AKOM reported an 8.5% increase in productivity over the previous year. The company said its car batteries are supplied to automakers across Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eastern Europe.
